© Asif Hassan | AFP | Getty ImagesPakistani security personnel stand next to burned out vehicles in front of the Chinese consulate after an attack in Karachi on November 23, 2018.
Three suicide bombers attacked the Chinese consulate in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi early on Friday, but were killed before entering the building, the city's police chief said.
At least two police officers were killed in the attack, which was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic insurgent group that said it opposes Chinese exploitation of natural resources in the country's southwest. It also describes itself as the Balochistan Liberation Army.
All Chinese staff at the consulate are safe, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered an inquiry into the incident.
The attack was the most prominent attack in Pakistan against neighbor and ally China,
which is pouring billions of dollars into the country as part of its vast Belt and Road initiative.
A blast and gunshots rang out early on Friday in the affluent Clifton neighborhood, where the consulate is located, and a plume of smoke rose over the area after the explosion.
Karachi Police Chief Amir Shaikh said the three attackers
came in a car filled with explosives but failed to get inside the heavily fortified compound.
"They tried to get inside but the Rangers and police killed one of the terrorists," Shaikh said.
A gun battle broke out with the two other attackers, but they were also killed, he added.
"There were three attackers and all three have been killed," Shaikh said. "They could not even get in the compound. They tried to get into the visa section."
A spokesman for the BLA confirmed there were three suicide attackers."They stormed the Chinese embassy in Karachi. China is exploiting our resources," spokesman Jiand Baloch told Reuters by telephone.
The insurgents are based in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where Chinese money has funded development of a deep-water port in the city of Gwadar.
Baluchistan has rich mineral and natural gas reserves but remains Pakistan's poorest province.The BLA says the state is taking over lands belonging to the indigenous Baloch people and have targeted Chinese-funded projects.
In August, a BLA suicide bomber attacked a bus full of Chinese mining workers in Baluchistan, wounding five people.
Source: Reuters
Comment: Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan
condemned the assault:
"The failed attack against the Chinese consulate was clearly a reaction to the unprecedented trade agreements that resulted from our trip to China," Khan said on Twitter. "The attack was intended to scare Chinese investors and undermine CPEC. These terrorists will not succeed."
Police are
linking the attack to India:
Pakistani police say they are investigating whether a Baluch separatist commander suspected of orchestrating a suicide attack against the Chinese Consulate in Karachi is sheltering in India.
...
But two police and two Pakistani visa applicants were also killed in the violence, which was claimed by a Pakistan-based separatist militant group known as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
...
On November 24, Pakistani counterterrorism police officer Umar Khitab said the attackers used a foreign-made C-4 plastic explosive and suggested that India was involved.
Khitab also suggested that India was involved, saying that the BLA was backed by "the 'enemy country'," a reference to India.
Khitab said the authorities believed Baluch separatist commander Aslam Achhu masterminded the attack and that he may now be in India.
The Chinese consulate wasn't the only place targeted on Friday. Hours after the failed suicide bombing, another
explosion took the lives of over 30 people and injured 50 more in a market in Kalaya.
Three children and 28 mourners are believed to be among the 31 victims, according to local Geo TV. The network says that another 33 people were injured in the suicide blast on Friday after the attacker went to the market on a motorcycle.
Meanwhile, AFP citing local officials gives a different account, saying that the improvised explosive device was hidden in a carton of vegetables. The agency also put the death toll at 31 and said that 50 more people were injured, with 17 in critical condition.
The attack on a market was labeled "terrorist" by Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, who also blamed US failures in neighboring Afghanistan for the blast.
The conflicting report says the attacker drove a motorcycle into the market before detonating the explosive. ISIS has
claimed responsibility for the second blast, saying it was a suicide bomber, not an IED. The death toll is now listed as 57, with 75 wounded.
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Comment: Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the assault: Police are linking the attack to India: The Chinese consulate wasn't the only place targeted on Friday. Hours after the failed suicide bombing, another explosion took the lives of over 30 people and injured 50 more in a market in Kalaya. The conflicting report says the attacker drove a motorcycle into the market before detonating the explosive. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the second blast, saying it was a suicide bomber, not an IED. The death toll is now listed as 57, with 75 wounded.
See also: